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> If every citizen received some minimum universal basic income, what might we do with our time instead of going to jobs we hate? We might do amazing things. T
by nathan_long 12y ago
> If every citizen received some minimum universal basic income, what might we do with our time instead of going to jobs we hate?
We might do amazing things. Then again, we might have a world where nobody scrubs toilets and lots of people make lousy paintings.
"What do I want to make/do?" and "what produces value for others?" are not always in sync. Having to sell your labor means there must be at least some link between supply and demand.
- Chinjut 12y agoPerhaps we will just find that the wages paid for scrubbing toilets will increase, till we find that people are indeed willing to scrub toilets. Why shouldn't a job of that sort be well-compensated? Universal basic income doesn't intrinsically mean less work being done. It just means different leverage in the negotiation process.
- nathan_long 12y agoBut it does mean that it's much easier for a person not to do anything that benefits others. There would certainly be people who say "I can get drinking money without working" and do nothing but drink. If you need to work to eat, it gives you some incentive to sober up. I think people have a natural need to work and contribute things, but we also have laziness tugging at us. Enabling someone to waste their life is not doing them a favor; it impoverishes them in a way that lacking money alone cannot.